AST 4150

[Acree]

Jive, now take those shocks and add electronic valves that adjust every 6ms.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

the springs are whatever AST provided, i didn't upgrade to swifts or etc.

by sagged you mean settle? maybe a 1/4 so far but i haven't really beaten on the suspension yet.

yes.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I was pretty impressed with TIC's AST 4100's.

- Andy

to say i'm impressed is an understatement, so far i'm blown away.

its one of those mods that makes me take the long way home now.

the kw's were good, these are fucking incredible so far

Originally Posted by Acree

Jive, now take those shocks and add electronic valves that adjust every 6ms.

details!!!!

[Acree]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

details!!!!

About a month ago, the owner of AST USA created his own company HVT (Hanchey Vehicle Tech). I had the single adjustable model of what you currently have on my car for a couple of months. After we tracked those and put a few miles on them, they put in the electronic system. I've had it for about 4 months now, and it's absolutely incredible.

Testing program link
Technical Details Link

[Jive Turkey]

oh man that looks incredible. but its also way more than i would ever need

and i know of HVT, a few people running their new coilovers on GD STi chassis, great budget coilover from TiC/HVT.

[wawawoowee]

Drove Jiveturkey's car yesterday with the AST's. He is not joking, the car is GLUED to the road.

[Wepeel]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I was pretty impressed with TIC's AST 4100's.

- Andy

I actually just sold them to a WRX owner (Clint was able to convert to 5x100) and helped with the install, they impressed me all over again.

Anyone have dynos for these 4150s?

[Jive Turkey]

here is how the car currently sits.

as of now the alignment specs are

front:
-1.9 camber
.04 toe out

rear:
-1.6 camber
.08 toe in

[cdrazic93]

Oh wow...

[autobrz]

Thanks for the review. Very informative.

Do you know if your 4150s came with the double digressive pistons? I'm interested mainly because I thought the ride would be better given captain snooze's review of his 9k/10k 5200s. Or do the addition of sway bars do make that big of a difference in ride quality?

[Pat]

I'm considering a set of these coilovers. However, there doesn't seem to be a lot of feedback on them recently. If anyone else has something to say about them I'd love to hear it. Especially if they have first-hand knowledge of how they work compared to the competition. Anyone?

[Clipdat]

I got the AST 5100 with 6K front 7K rear installed in December and I'm still trying to get used to them. I think they may require some fine tuning.

Out of the box set close to full soft they were dramatically stiff compared to the RCE Yellows I was on previously. I then adjusted them to half way in between full soft and full stiff and not surprisingly it just amplified the stiffness. I may need to email AST and see if they have any recommendations for damper settings for the street.

If I come to an abrupt stop at a stop sign/light and keep my foot on the brake, the car will "pogo" with the weight/energy rapidly dispersing and bouncing between front and rear 4 or 5 times before stopping.

Not sure if this means that the springs are too high of a rate for the damper, or that the damper is over damped. Anyone?

I mean even if I just drop my elbow/forearm into the center console cupholder area, I can feel the resonance/vibration from that impact in the form of the car subtlety micro-bouncing rapidly 3-4 times. I feel like I should not be able to feel the springs/car bouncing from just dropping my arm and slamming the center cupholder area. Isn't that far from normal?

Originally Posted by Pat

I'm considering a set of these coilovers. However, there doesn't seem to be a lot of feedback on them recently. If anyone else has something to say about them I'd love to hear it. Especially if they have first-hand knowledge of how they work compared to the competition. Anyone?

[Pat]

That's a big help, thank you. I was told they normally spec 5K springs for those dampers, so 6/7 might be a little much, but still totally within reason. Is it possible the weak point in the chain is now bushings? You said, "the car will "pogo" with the weight/energy rapidly dispersing and bouncing between front and rear 4 or 5 times before stopping." The use of the word "rapidly" makes me think it's simply bushings that are made to be used with OEM suspension and their softness is not highlighted by how stiff the rest of the system is.
I would be very surprised if the damping was not up to the job, though. If springs overpower shocks you can get bouncing similar to what you reference, but again, I don't think that's what you're feeling.
Later in your post you refer to micro-bouncing and resonance. Those words just support my theory even more, although it can be difficult to diagnose over teh intarwebs.
Again, thanks for sharing all that. I'm looking forward to hearing how your situation progresses.

[Clipdat]

Interesting. This is the information I got from my installer (who said it was from AST) when I was deciding what to go with. Part of the problem might be that since AST doesn't really advertise/promote themselves, there is not really a lot of information available.

"4150 ME Spec- Single adjustable for rebound, non-inverted, monotube damper. Street spring rates of 5k front/5k rear with the double digressive piston in the front dampers and appropriate valving to match. Kit includes dampers and springs. Top mounts optional.

5100 - Single adjustable for rebound, inverted, monotube damper. Street spring rates of 6k front/7k rear with standard pistons and matched valving. Kit includes dampers and springs. Top mounts optional.

5200 - Same as 5100, but double adjustable. Separate adjustment for rebound and compression with remote canister. 9k front/11k rear spring rates. Kit includes, dampers, top mounts and springs

5300 - Same as 5100, but triple adjustable. Remote canister for high and low speed compression adjustment. 12k front/10k rear spring rates. Kit includes, dampers, top mounts and springs""

Yeah, I hope I did an accurate job describing the sensation. It's like the weight/energy shifts between the front and rear rapidly four to five times before it completely disperses/stops. I had never noticed this on my RCE springs, but my buddy with OEM suspension was able to get this bouncing sensation as well by stopping abruptly, it just wasn't quite as dramatic.

I suppose it could be bushing flex, but I wonder which ones in specific? Subframe?

Originally Posted by Pat

Is it possible the weak point in the chain is now bushings? You said, "the car will "pogo" with the weight/energy rapidly dispersing and bouncing between front and rear 4 or 5 times before stopping." The use of the word "rapidly" makes me think it's simply bushings that are made to be used with OEM suspension and their softness is not highlighted by how stiff the rest of the system is.

I wish you could drive it and feel the sensation! I only mentioned over sprung because during my research and reading other forums that is what people generally said the culprit was. Another thing I saw mentioned was that if the rear LCAs are installed and bolted up to the dampers while the car is in the air, versus them being jacked up into the spot at about where they would normally be when the car is on the round, that it can cause this bouncy "overly sprung" sensation. Not sure how much truth there is to that.

The micro bouncing just when impacting the center console is such a strange sensation, it's subtle, but noticeable.

I will send an email to AST later today and see what they have to say. Maybe this is just the way they are at lower city street speeds. At higher speeds they do feel pretty good around corners, very flat, and very predictable. Then again so did the RCE Yellows!

Originally Posted by Pat

I would be very surprised if the damping was not up to the job, though. If springs overpower shocks you can get bouncing similar to what you reference, but again, I don't think that's what you're feeling.
Later in your post you refer to micro-bouncing and resonance. Those words just support my theory even more, although it can be difficult to diagnose over teh intarwebs.
Again, thanks for sharing all that. I'm looking forward to hearing how your situation progresses.